


King and Lionheart

by MixterGlacia



Category: Red vs. Blue
Genre: Afterlife, All of Freelancer Basically - Freeform, Alternate Universe - Supernatural Elements, Blood, M/M, Near Death Experiences, Past Relationship(s), Speculation, Spirits
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-14
Updated: 2017-08-14
Packaged: 2018-12-15 07:14:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,632
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11801082
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MixterGlacia/pseuds/MixterGlacia
Summary: The Betwixt and Between is where you can see the people you've lost along the way. Only thing is, you have to use a special key to unlock the door. Wash isn't sure when he got one, but he's pretty sure it's because of how many times he's nearly died.





	King and Lionheart

**Author's Note:**

> So have this really weird thing I wrote while sleep deprived.

**"Howling ghosts they reappear**  
**In mountains that are stacked with fear**  
**But you're a king and I'm a lionheart."**

 

There was nothing to blame himself for. There was _everything_ to blame himself for.

 

He was stronger than he was before. He was the weakest he’d ever been.

 

He had grown brilliant. He had been struck dumb.

 

He was blessed with great fortune. He failed every saving throw.

 

There were so many things swirling in his head like a violent storm. There were so many hazy patches of thought and void. He felt everywhere and nowhere in the same breath. Or was he even breathing at all? The only absolute was the blood draining from his neck and oozing through his teeth.

 

This wasn’t Wash’s first near death experience, and if his past was any indication, it might not be his last. It was certainly the most detailed encounter he had with this place. Not that that was inherently good.

 

To call the shapes huddled around him ghosts was too generic. To call them memories was inaccurate. The proper term for the “phenomenon” that stood before him was being in the Betwixt and Between. Despite what the world had once thought, these remnants were very real, and the discovery had launched hundreds of thousands of studies. The strongest result was why some people would appear in the hazy realm. To put it in the most simplistic way, you never die until you were forgotten.

 

Wash was skilled in the art of never forgetting. He was always seeing the shadows of the dead when he took too much punishment. The people he lost. The people he killed. The people he hated. The people he loved.

 

The Betwixt and Between had been part of his life since he was small, seeing his mother staring down at him after he’d been hit by a car. The funny thing about the people ‘living’ in this strange world was that if something was particularly memorable about them, it usually stuck with them after death. Regardless of how they really looked.

 

Often, causes of death would be displayed. If they were known for wearing certain things, that also became a feature. Usually, they looked younger than they had been. Wash’s mom wore vividly patterned dresses that perpetually smoldered.

 

She hadn’t visited him since he’d joined the military.

 

Wash’s wife still appeared. She’d been snatched from the street one night while she walked home from work. A few days later she was found, unblinking eyes glassy as she bobbed gently at the edge of a river. Wash was still young and fresh faced, running a hardware store to make a little extra cash. The killer had bragged over his latest ‘catch’ when he was being lead into a squad car.

 

Wash got his hunting rifle. The squeeze of a trigger dropped a man who never had the gall to show his face in Wash’s corner of Betwixt and Between. Special Operations had found the grieving man before the cops did.

 

He’s bounced between units until Freelancer takes him in. It’s all too short of a time before he loses them. Those who have died seem to avoid Wash during his visits, sticking to the edges of his awareness as if they want to deny him the closure of it all. Especially Carolina, she never makes herself known to him after her fall. She had to be dead, so where was she?

 

North and South come to him the most often. Even going so far as to cause what were known as ‘Specter dreams’, where the dead speak or interact with someone outside of the Betwixt and Between. After he had killed her, South had been understandably wary of Wash. It took that particularly close call with the Meta and EMP for her to slink close. She grabbed him by the underside of his helmet and hissed,

 

_“Not yet, man. Keep moving forward.”_

 

It was even longer before the others came to his side. Wash wasn’t even near death. Just passed out and suffering a concussion. Locus had done a number on him, and having Freckles ‘shake’ had just hurled more rocks at his already pounding head. The Betwixt and Between is strange, and some people are more easily able to open the ‘door’ than others. It seemed very fond of letting Wash inside, so to speak.

 

He’s just quietly sitting between the twins when York strides over. He’s jovial as he always had been, cracking a few jokes to make the older man laugh weakly. He ruffles Wash’s dreadlocks and smiles in a way that borders on heartbreaking.

 

_“Can’t chat forever, rookie. You’ve got company to entertain.”_

 

Just before Wash wakes up, he can see a blurry patch of white and gold in the distance. Everything in him just _aches._

 

The A.I. swoop through his sleep deprived mind like angry insects one day, and can only screech, _“You can’t!”_ before they vanish. Wash fights sleep until he senses Connie without seeing her. She softly whispers in his ear,

 

_“Sleep or die. It’s your call, David.”_

 

So he sleeps. There’s no dreams or nightmares, no Betwixt or Between. Just the void.

 

Now Carolina screams for him to stay awake. He drifts through delirium until a strong grip pulls him back into focus. Wash doesn’t _see_ but he _knows_. The old man asks a question that sounds pitiful in the world of the dead. “Is it worth fighting anymore?”

 

The grip on his arm tightens. A rattle carries with it all Wash needs. **_“Stay up.”_ **

 

All he needs does not equate to all he wants. He moves to face his second dead love, but the specter won’t allow it. Ice cold water runs over Wash’s shoulders like many tiny rivers. “Why now? Why visit me after all this time?”

 

 **_“You needed me. Stay up.”_ ** There’s more water, crashing over him like a flood and it throws Wash from the Betwixt and Between.

 

Even if he _is_ hallucinating, Wash knows he’s not seeing everything around him incorrectly. Sure, Big Bird probably isn’t doing a funny little dance next to Locus, but the flash of steel and orange is both unwelcome and all too real. Leave it to Felix to be one of the rare cases that can slip or of the doors holding the dead back. It’s hard enough to speak from behind it like Connie and South, but to be fully visible to whoever you chose? That’s a rare bird indeed. The mercenary is bloody and broken, faded at the edges, but his voice is clear.

 

...and compelling.

 

 _“I’ll guide you, Wash, don’t be afraid.”_ A grossly warped hand directs him. _“Just a little bit further, and you’ll be safe.”_

 

The shadow of Felix suddenly cringes against something unknown to Wash, and he sees the faintest flash of white and gold before the dead vanish like someone flipped a switch. There’s many voices full of terror crying out to him, and there’s a muted realization that Wash isn’t where he’s meant to be. The man turns, getting one last good look at the family he’s made for himself. Then the world becomes a vivid whirl of colour and agony.

 

He wakes to the clearest he’s ever seen the Betwixt and Between. All of them have drawn away from the edges this time, crowding around him. His wife, the twins, York, Connie, even some who never got this close to him. Alpha is orbited by the other fragments. (He doesn’t notice Epsilon and isn’t sure what to make of this.) Wyoming looks like a broken VHS tape, squares of him blinking away from him before snapping back. Florida is out of his armor, waving at Wash with a secretive smile. Doyal’s armor is scorched. Their voices become static. When he opens his mouth to speak, blood mists the inside of his visor. A familiar hand settles on Wash’s shoulder. This time, he’s spun around to face the man he’s only glimpsed once since his death.

 

The state he found Maine in almost knocks the air from his lungs. The tow hook was still wedged into his chest plate. Part of his domed visor was frosted over, chunks of ice clinging to the armor plating not overflowing with frigid water. It ruins Wash to see the man like this.

 

Maine brings up his free hand to grip at Wash’s right arm. It helps ground him. He looks at the dead man, desperation etched into every line of the steel and yellow armor. They can’t speak, but they never needed words before.

 

[I can’t.] Is in the slight dip of Wash’s helmet. [I’m too old.] In the way his gaze drifts to the side, how his shoulders droop.

 

[Bullshit.] Comes from how Maine carefully places a palm to the side of Wash’s head. [Listen up.] Is how he guides the bleeding man to bring his head back up.

 

[I am.] Rings from the way Wash leans into Maine's cold hand. [I miss you…] Comes from his own hand covering the larger one. [I need you.] In the drag of his thumb.

 

[ _They_ need you.] Speaks Maine’s firm head shake. [I can wait.] In the way he pulls Wash close. [I’m always with you.] From how he gently rests his chin against the top of his partner’s helmet.

 

They linger like this for hours. They break away in seconds.

 

They hold firm to their faith. They shake apart with fear.

 

They are still as stone. They never stay still.

 

They are surrounded by support. They drift in a lonely sea.

 

One of them is silenced. One of them speaks.

 

**_“Wake up, Wash.”_ **

 

 

 **"** **And as the world comes to an end**  
**I'll be here to hold your hand**  
**'Cause you're my king and I'm your lionheart."**

**Author's Note:**

> Please let my boy live, i've got like 5 bucks but if it makes him okay you can have it.


End file.
